Well I’ve made it! As of last Saturday (29th March) I’m no longer bankrupt - it felt strange waking up on Saturday morning and knowing that the year was over. I’m so pleased that I escaped a BRU - I was warned by my IP when I first told him I was thinking of BR that I could expect a BRU of a minimum of 3 years due to the size of my debt (£65k). I’ve since found out that it’s more to do with how the debt came about than the size of the debt.

All in all it hasn’t been as bad as I thought it would be, although I know I’m lucky as I had no house to lose and I could keep my car as I needed it for work.

I have learnt a lot in the last year / 18 months - I know that I don’t need material things to be happy and I like paying cash for things. I’ve made 10 payments into my IPA, so only another 26 to go, which isn’t long really.

Life has changed a lot for me in the last year - Dave and I have moved house, I’ve settled back into my job (I was thinking of leaving at one point) and I have my lovely Harry Puss to look after. While BR wasn’t a pleasant experience it was the only thing I could do.

I’ve now got the lovely task of updating my credit reference files to show settled or partially settled - apparently if I don’t I will have problems even when the BR drops off my files in 5 years time. I’ve got to apply for the files, and apparently some of my creditors may want an official notice of discharge from the court - bye bye £60! Obviously I don’t want credit cards or loans ever again, but I do want to be able to get car finance, a better mobile phone deal etc in the future.

I will carry on updating my blog if anything else happens, which knowing my slightly chaotic life it’s bound to!